CHEHALIS — Forks hung with top-ranked Napavine for a quarter before the Tigers proved too much to handle and the Spartans fell 74-38 Class 2B Southwest District Tournament boys basketball contest on Wednesday night at W.F. West High School.
Early on, Forks knocked down a couple of 3-point baskets and was knotted at 11-all with No. 1 Napavine with three minutes left in the first quarter.
“We came out ready to go in the first quarter, did a decent job on defense and we were looking to score,” Forks coach Keith Weekes said.
But the Spartans couldn’t contain Tigers senior James Grose, who closed the quarter on a 7-0 run, and Napavine seized control.
The Tigers (20-0) went on a 22-2 run in the second period and led 51-21 at the half.
Grose scored 22 of his 31 points in the first half.
“After the first eight minutes, we got away from what we do, there wasn’t much aggression, we always seemed to be playing a step behind,” Weekes said.
“Napavine is a team that is constant in your face, full-speed ahead on both ends of the floor.
“We weren’t up to matching their intensity, and as the undefeated No. 1 team with an MVP, they did exactly what they should have against someone not quite on their level.”
The Spartans (12-10) will need to win three games to earn a state tournament berth, but will first face a Pacific League foe tonight in a loser-out contest with Ocosta (7-14) at Rochester High School at 7:30 p.m.
“We’ve been pretty satisfied with our last few games in the way we’ve been playing, even the losses,” Weekes said.
“This one, unfortunately, was not our best. We hope to recover with a practice and turn around and head back south and continue trying. We’re now at risk of being eliminated, but we are going to do our best to prevent that from happening.”
Napavine 74, Forks 38
Forks 13 8 8 9 — 38
Napavine 18 33 20 3 — 74
Forks (38) — Lausche 8, Davis 8, Salazar 7, Rowley 6, Castro 4, Micheau 3, Lohrengel 2.
Napavine (74) — Grose 31, Denault 15, Prather 15, Watson 3, Nelson 2, Kelly 2, Landram 2.
East Jefferson 74, Vashon 72
PORT TOWNSEND — Trailing by 15 points in the third quarter, the Rivals rallied for a senior night victory.
The Pirates went for the win in the final seconds but airballed the 3-point attempt.
A timeout helped refocus East Jefferson and go on a run of its own in the third quarter.
“We have eight seniors, and that was one of the things I asked them in the timeout was if this was how they wanted to go out at home,” coach Emanuel Abbott said.
“We went on at least a 15-0 full-court run by pressing and leaking out for layups and 3-pointers. We caused turnovers and got a huge dunk by Stuart Dow.”
The Rivals overcame a 24-point second half from Vashon’s Sage Stromberg.
“He came off the bench and hit everything,” Abbott said.
Dow had a huge night, scoring 23 points, grabbing 15 rebounds and swatting six shots.
“He was great on defense and he hit 7 of 10 from the free-throw line coming off a bad stretch,” Abbott said.
Kaiden Guzman scored nine of his 14 points in the fourth quarter.
Brody Moore added 11 points and five assists.
The Rivals (8-7, 9-9) are the fifth seed in the Class 1A West Central District Tournament and will visit Life Christian (10-9) at 6 p.m. Tuesday in a loser-out contest.
East Jefferson 74, Vashon 72
Vashon 16 14 24 18 — 38
East Jefferson 18 15 15 26 — 74
East Jefferson (74) — Dow 23, Guzman 14, Moore 11, Brown 9, Holmes 9, Stepanski 4, Mercado 4.
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Sports reporter/columnist Michael Carman can be contacted at sports@peninsuladailynews.com.
